The DeKalb Board of Education will hold the following meetings on Monday, June 3, 2013 each at its indicated room at Robert R. Freeman Administrative & Instructional Complex, 1701 Mountain Industrial Boulevard, Stone Mountain, GA 30083:

4:00pm Executive Session for a personnel matter and a legal matter
Cabinet Room

5:45pm Community Meeting for Public Comments
J. David Williamson Board Room

7:00pm Business Meeting
J. David Williamson Board Room

Meeting information can be accessed online by going to: www.dekalb.k12.ga.us, click on Leadership, go to eBoard Home Page and click on the date for the meeting agenda\information.

One of the discussion items for the Committee of the Whole is Dual Accreditation. This would allow high schools to seek another accreditation in addition to the SACS accreditation. If you would like to share your thoughts on this with the Board of Education and Superintendent Thurmond, click our link on the right side panel to email the entire board and the superintendent.

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Hosting a dialogue among parents, educators and community members focused on improving our schools and providing a quality, equitable education for each of our nearly 100,000 students. ~ "ipsa scientia potestas est" ~ "Knowledge itself is power"

The DeKalb County School District (DCSD) budget hearing scheduled for May 15 was postponed until 12 p.m. on June 3. The hearing will accompany a DeKalb County Board of Education committee of the whole.

The Board of Education will meet at 6 p.m. on June 10 for a called meeting at which the tentative budget may be adopted. The final adoption of the budget and tentative millage rate hearing will take place at 6 p.m. on June 26. All meetings will take place in the J. David Williamson Board Room, Robert R. Freeman Administrative & Instructional Complex, 1701 Mountain Industrial Blvd., Stone Mountain.

Thurmond, on the job three months, said he removed Kendra D. March as deputy superintendent of school leadership and operational support. There was “no problem with her specifically,” he said, adding “we obviously need to address academic achievement” and “I just felt we needed to move in a new direction.” Alice Thompson, executive director of leadership, will fill the role until Thurmond finds a permanent replacement, which he said he’ll do by July, after a national search.

Plus, Thurmond appointed Trenton Arnold as an Area Super as well… Good decisions here. Well, as long as he doesn’t just give Alice the job after conducting a ‘national’ search… that’s been the DCSS history — fake national searches.

The DeKalb County school board will hold a final public hearing on the fiscal year 2014 budget at 6 p.m. on June 10. The board may also vote on a tentative budget at that meeting, with a final vote scheduled for 6 p.m. on June 26. The June 10 meeting will follow a public budget hearing scheduled for June 3 at noon.

All meetings are at the Robert R. Freeman Administrative & Instructional Complex, 1701 Mountain Industrial Blvd., Stone Mountain, and will be televised on PDS-TV24 and streamed live on http://www.dekalb.k12.ga.us. The proposed $759 million budget can be viewed online at the same website, and the public can email comments to budget-feedback@fc.dekalb.k12.ga.us.

Which is laughable really. He really thinks that in a few short months, his appointed board and the former board’s appointed interim superintendent have ‘saved’ DeKalb schools from decades of fraud, abuse and corruption? All without a full forensic audit? And without any resolution to the civil and criminal court cases in the judicial vortex? All without a fully reconciled 2012 budget?

Also — Sounds like the Gov’s commencement speech at McNair was outrageously insulting to the African-American audience. Here’s a comment:

Posted by thestilettobella at 9:46 a.m. May. 22, 2013

As a parent sitting in the audience last night watching with pride as my child graduated within the top 10 percentile of her class, I was appalled to hear Nathan Deal use Booker T. Washington being a SLAVE as a key point of reference in his commencement speech. His speech was short and definitely uninspiring to anyone. Speaking of Booker T. Washington being able to attend college ONLY because when given the task of sweeping and taking a “rag” and cleaning the classroom, he did it with such “pride” was a true slap in the face. For him to detail how he swept the room three times, then went over it five times with a rag cleaning it well resulting in receiving praise from the teach who then advised that it was only because of the pride he took in cleaning the room that gave him a pass to college left me speechless and insulted. Of all things to use as a point of reference, slavery definitely should NOT have been one of them. I am sickened and disgusted beyond description. CHLOE CASTLEBERRY!

Meet Tanya Arrington of Murphey Candler Elementary, Mario Miner of Stephenson High, Alyssa Montooth of Druid Hills High, Keandria Foreman-Edwards of Clifton Elementary and Bryan Boucher of Dunwoody High by viewing the Teacher of the Year profiles on PDS-TV24 and the DCSD YouTube site. The overall DCSD Teacher of the Year will be announced this fall at the Academy of Educational Excellence Awards.

(After having twice postponed the event in May at the last minute each time, which they of course, don’t mention.)

Deal thinks he saved DCSS because and only because of the accreditation issue. It is important to the regions economic health to keep accreditation. The national media can’t differentiate Dekalb from ATL.
Not sure Deal gives a flying flip about academics

Alice Thompson was Crawford Lewis’s Chief of Staff and one of only 4 direct reports to Lewis. On Lewis’s Organizational Chart, she was lateral to Lewis with Pat Pope, Ramona Tyson and Robert Moseley underneath.

Putting her in charge of Operations seems to be a step back to the Crawford Lewis regime. This is not what DeKalb citizens should consider a break with the personnel who drove this school system into the grounds. IMHO – Having Crawford Lewis’s Chief of Staff as the Operational Manager is not good news.

Simpson’s salary per the state Salary and Travel audit:
2011: $113,697
2012: $96,772

This did not happen yet Ms. Thompson gave this pledge to the AJC. The DCSS administration says one thing to the media and then does quite another thinking they will get the media off their back and no one will ever check to see if they followed through.

So Mr. Thurmond has Ms. Tyson and Ms. Thompson as his high level advisors. How is this different from Crawford Lewis? Why does he continue to use the same direct reports as Lewis? How have they changed?

Thurmond ticked off specific actions he has taken since becoming superintendent.

“This board has set parameters that demand a focus on resources in the classroom, balance the budget and cut legal fees,” he said. In fiscal year 2013 DeKalb spent more than any three other metro Atlanta school systems combined on legal fees. Thurmond’s recitation of DeKalb’s spending on legal fees drew gasps from the audience.

“The Heery Mitchell case, the one you’ve all heard about, is the albatross around our neck,” said Thurmond. “We had spent $6 million in legal fees on that case, and then went to a contingency agreement. Since then, we’ve spent $13 million in case costs. All that money over a dispute over less than $500,000.”

Thurmond said he had met with lawyers that day, and added: “I’m a lawyer. I believe we can buy lawyers cheaper than the ones we’re paying now. I’m working on it.”

In addition to cutting the budget for legal fees by $6 million, Thurmond outlined other cuts in the budget proposed for 2014, including staff reductions to the central administrative office.

“Of the $18 million in cuts, $5 million are in salaries and staff at the central office,” he said. “And I have not hired a single person, not one, since I’ve been superintendent.”

Teachers will see one fewer furlough day next year, which Thurmond admitted was a small step, but an important one in restoring competitive teacher salaries in DeKalb. “We’re not going to fix everything all at once but we are moving in the right direction,” Thurmond said. “And the school system that opens in August will be much better than the one that closed today.”

@DSW
““Of the $18 million in cuts, $5 million are in salaries and staff at the central office,” he said. “And I have not hired a single person, not one, since I’ve been superintendent.”

So where is list of the names, positions/titles and compensation of the personnel cut? Ms. Tyson called bus drivers members of the Central Office when she made “Central Office” cuts.

Taxpayers need to see the specifics.

How has he addressed the millions the school system is spending on the educational program Success for All that Dr. Atkinson sold to DeKalb before she left to work for that company? This program is not endorsed by the teachers who use it even as it sucks up tax dollars and diverts funding from teachers in the classroom instructing students.

There are many more areas Mr. Thurmond needs to address. Parents need to remind him of those areas and question him on the specifics.

The school system will be “better” when all students are sitting in reasonably sized classrooms with highly qualified, competitively compensated teachers. Parents/taxpayers need to let Mr. Thurmond and the BOE members know you expect them to fund the classrooms first and then see what is left over for admin and support. The BOE has the fiscal and educational responsibility to approve or disapprove his budgets. The last BOE set the classroom sizes at unteachable levels as they approved Ms. Tyson’s class size increase recommendations. They were as culpable of these poor decisions for students as Ms. Tyson was. This BOE should not approve the same poor decisions as the expelled BOE, and Mr. Thurmond should not recommend the same policies Dr. Lewis, Ms. Tyson and Dr. Atkinson recommended that brought student achievement to the an historical low.

Has anyone looked at the comparison of our student achievement with the rest of metro Atlanta school systems including demographically comparable ones? Our students are below demographically comparable school systems – in many areas it is worse this year than last year.

Mr. Thurmond needs to demonstrate in quantifiably measurable terms that the policies he is putting in place will have a positive impact on student achievement. He is ultimately responsible for student achievement, and he needs to acknowledge that. If he cannot raise student achievement so that our students perform at a rate that is equal to or better than demographically comparable school systems, he has failed in his job as the instructional leader of the school system and needs to move aside so that a leader who places student achievement first can be installed.

Where did Mr. Thurmond get the idea that ANY TASK the superintendent performs is more important than moving students forward academically? If our students were improving at the same rate as demographically comparable school systems’ students, SACS would be a moot point. The sole purpose of the school system is to educate students. If the past superintendents and BOE were setting the stage for adequately funded classrooms rather than making sure the adults were all employed, then our children would not be facing these problems that were caused by the adults who were supposed to be dedicated solely to ensuring that ALL DCSS students have an adequate education.

Keeping the same top level personnel in place who made such disastrous decisions for students and impeded student progress is financially and educationally unwise. Why does Mr. Thurmond thiink their advice will be any better now than it was under Lewis or Atkinson or when Tyson was directly in charge?

Getting our budget fixed is vitally important for the education of our students. Freeing up the money we have to use in the classroom for better equipment (some of my school issued equipment is 50 years old. Not kidding) and to attract (and keep) the best possible educators for those classrooms.

In addition, running the school system more in the black allows for a drop in millage, which attracts more people to our county to fill up all the empty homes.

The ball rolls the slowest at the top of the hill. As long as he goes through with what he says and we see hard evidence that it is indeed happening, I’m fine with this course of action.

IMHO – what he is proposing is a drop in the bucket. There are so many identified areas to trim that he has not touched.

In addition, Mr. Thurmond’s approach is wrong. He needs to fully fund the classrooms – after all we pay the highest mileage rate in Georgia and our per pupil expenditure is at the top as well – so he can’t say we don’t have the money. After he fully funds the classroom, then he should use what is left over to fund the admin and support. This works well for Rockdale and Marietta City students. This could and should work for DeKalb.

DeKalb Schools spent $1,244,000+ on Travel last year. That would fund 24 teachers with masters degrees and six years of teaching experience (this includes benefits). Can Mr. Thurmond really say that over a million dollars on travel will improve student achievement more than 24 highly qualified teachers with solid teaching experience? No one word from him on cutting travel expenses in order to provide more classroom instruction for students. I guess travel is more necessary to Mr. Thurmond and his administrative group than teachers instructing students.

I am really interested to see the results of the CRCT. Once the system receives the scores, they should be at the fingertips of teachers. Instead, many teachers leave for the year without seeing actual scores. There’s no need to check IDMS because aren’t there either. I am guessing that the results (systemwide) are not good, especially when there has been a mass exodus of veteran teachers in the last 5 years. I think that DeKalb have been replacing many of these teachers with those who have less experience; this could be used to help balance the budget, but will continue to hurt student achievement. The bottom line is that there aren’t many decent schools for teachers to transfer to, so the fed up teachers leave for better performing districts, ones who offer an honest chance for promotion, or those who offer a better salary package (even though the stress level may be the same). In the end, the losers are the students. DCSS will come up with some way to explain the decrease in student achievement, but they will never mention the lost of veteran teachers as a factor.

Just got an email from Lakeside saying that the new principal is Jason Clyne, the previous AP of instruction. I wonder if all schools got announcements of their new principals…… Way to bury the leads DeKalb.

Unfortunately, the announcements was scheduled to be made Monday. A list was circulating via a leak — perhaps by a board member — and Lakeside parent leadership found out through this leak, not through official word. Then people told people etc.
Yes, other principals were on this list as well as vacancies that still need to be filled.

To: All DeKalb Employees
From: Michael L. Thurmond
Re: New Principal Assignments for School Year 2013-2014
Date: 1 June 2013

I want to inform stakeholders of changes in principal assignments for the 2013-2014 school year. Below is a chart of the new assignments and vacancies as of May 31, 2013. You will notice that we are still in the hiring process and they are listed as “posting”. We anticipate completing the hiring process for posted positions within the next few weeks.

I wish to thank the BOE, the Local School Councils and other stakeholders, in advance, for your support as we make the necessary assignment/reassignment decisions in pursuit of district-wide academic achievement at all schools.

“I am really interested to see the results of the CRCT. Once the system receives the scores, they should be at the fingertips of teachers.”

Below is what’s online at the state DOE website.

2013 CRCT – Percent of DeKalb students that DID NOT MEET Grade Level expectations (do not have skills on grade level)

DEKALB COUNTY SCHOOLS
English Language Arts% that DID NOT MEET Grade Level
Elementary 15.2% Middle 11.5%

Reading % that DID NOT MEET Grade Level
Elementary 11.1% Middle 8.1%

Math % that DID NOT MEET Grade Level
Elementary 23.6% Middle 19%

Science % that DID NOT MEET Grade Level
Elementary 32.2% 34.7%

Social Studies % that DID NOT MEET Grade Level
Elementary 31.4% Middle 35.7%

Compare DeKalb with Rockdale – a system that has 100% of their schools Title 1

ROCKDALE COUNTY SCHOOLS
English Language Arts% that DID NOT MEET Grade Level
Elementary 5.1% Middle 3.8%

Reading % that DID NOT MEET Grade Level
Elementary 4.1% Middle 2.8%

Math % that DID NOT MEET Grade Level
Elementary 11.1% 10.6%

Science % that DID NOT MEET Grade Level
Elementary 13.6% Middle 17.7%

Social Studies % that DID NOT MEET Grade Level
Elementary 15% Middle 13.7%

I have compared every metro system with DeKalb, and you are right. Our scores are not where they should be compared to demographically comparable school systems.

This is what happens resources are diverted OUTSIDE the classrooms and continue to rely on upper level managers who do not have the financial and educational experience and understanding to move students forward. The new BOE should be looking at this data because their MAIN responsibility is to ensure student achievement as well.

Wonder what Maureen Downey thinks about this. Look at her blog about Mr. Simpson and the book scandal:
“Sorry, but I think DeKalb school official Ralph Simpson needs to be fired for selling his autobiography to public schools under his supervision. If others in the chain of command that approved the purchases of Simpson’s book for DeKalb C0unty schools is found to have faked signatures or lied about the fact that a colleague authored the book, they should also be fired.

Such self-serving acts undermine DeKalb’s argument that it does not have money for basics because of state cuts and falling property tax collections”

All told, the school system found three educators-turned-authors raked in a total of almost $100,000 in sales to district schools. One principal used her school’s funds to buy more than $11,000 worth of copies of her own book.

Interim Superintendent Ramona Tyson said the investigation uncovered a misuse of school funds that was “alarming,” “disturbing” and “unethical.””

I was under the impression that Mindee Adamsom was a very well-respected principal at Druid Hills HS. It is so hard to find qualified and energetic HS principals that I wonder why the administration would move her to an elementary school.

And I am horrified that this administration would return Ralph Simpson to a principal role. In my opinion, it was fraud to sell the piece of junk he markedted as a “book” to any school system. He should have been fired. Period.

Several years (and two superintendents) ago, C Lewis decided on a major shakeup/rearrangement of principals. He placed principals from well-performing schools into poorly-performing schools (and gave them a $10K bonus). My impression is that it did not work out well.
Anybody else remember what happened?

“”In fact, Lewis replaced principals frequently as he sought to place the blame for poor achievement on them. Lewis replaced 24 principals in 2009 – just 2 years ago. Look at this Cross Roads article from July, 2009:

(see page B4 and B5)

Cross Roads quote:
“Some schools had all “C” people. No wonder the students weren’t performing,” he (Lewis)said.
…..Lewis said wholesale changes were made to the schools’ leadership.”
“We’ve taken and made stronger the administrative teams”, he said. Every principal now have stronger support staff.”….
“Lewis said that good support is important for principals, who will now be held accountable, not only for how they students perform, but also for how they look”

What happened? Scores tanked even further. Then Lewis was out and Ms. Tyson was in. So the accountability game starts all over again.

At some point taxpayers look at the data and at the promises from the Central Office and begin to ask why the leadership has failed in their stated goals of moving students forward and ensuring they make adequate yearly progress. ”

The CrossRoads link is no longer live, but the quote is valid.

As long as there is a lot of principal turnover, the blame can always be placed on the former principals. That way no one is accountable – especially upper level management.

In reality, the superintendent and the BOE are the most responsible for atudent achievement. The principals may pick the teachers but the superintendent picks the principals, and the BOE must approve every one of his/her recommendations.

It always comes back to the upper level administration – how well they have done their jobs with respect to hiring and managing the principals and teachers, ensuring there is discipline (or lack thereof) in the schools, setting the grading scale, requiring teachers to “never fail” a student or to give students multiple chances to make up work or retake tests even when the student has put forth no effort, increasing class sizes, developing the curriculum, setting the teaching and learning pace, and in general setting ALL of the policies, procedures and programs that determine how, what and when teachers teach.

This is why Mr. Thurmond and the BOE are DIRECTLY and MAINLY responsible for student achievement or lack thereof just like Dr. Atkinson, Ms. Tyson and Dr. Lewis were responsible for the decline in student achievement. Of course, the system does not work if they are not also held accountable. Parents/taxpayers MUST hold these folks accountable when they develop and implement policies, programs and procedures that negatively impact student achievement or our students will never have the opportunity to move forward academically at the same rate as their peers in other school systems are doing.

Good news for the Lakeside cluster! Jason Clyne as LHS principal and Mindee Adamson for Oak Grove!!

But sadly, the ever-struggling Towers HS is saddled with someone known to be a self-promoter, with poor writing skills who can only fill a ‘book’ if using 16 point type and then can only sell that book by personally writing or having a ‘friend’ write the purchase order using federal government funds. We see a terrible year ahead for Towers… Thurmond definitely did not consider students with this placement.

As far as Lewis moving principals around year after year – and his quote, “Every principal now have stronger support staff.”…. I’m sure, as superintendent of a school system, he meant, “Each principal will now have a stronger support staff.”… Or perhaps bad grammar just rolls downhill as our system test scores proved under Lewis and Tyson?

“But sadly, the ever-struggling Towers HS is saddled with someone known to be a self-promoter”

So now Towers has a principal who had his eductor’s license suspended by the Professionl Standards Commission for ethics violations. Of all the candidates for principal, why would Thurmond pick Mr. Simpson for a school that really needs a strong and competent leader? Does anyone think Mr. Thurmond would have placed him at Lakeside or Druid Hills? DeKalb is truly a Tale of Two Systems.http://www.ajc.com/news/news/local/dekalb-administrator-author-agrees-to-10-day-suspe/nQwrc/

DCSS has been instructed to do a better job with leadership development by the state. Part of that is to replicate GCSS. In the world of reasonable thinking, if you think Adamson was effective at DHHS, you don’t move her to an elementary school, even if that is what she wanted. It simply isn’t a logical career path for a school leader. If she was tired of being a principal, and this has happened before, then go back to the classroom. Her entire career has been at the high school level.

Any my concerns aren’t about her, but rather about who is making this decisions.

DSW, he wasn’t really a very good principal. Oak Grove is a hard school to mess up, high income parents, no apartments, etc and he had strong ass’t principals. He got a plum job at the state because of his connections.

Wow, I’ve never found him to be anything but immediately responsive and effective. Promptly answers emails, always willing to talk even when I’ve just dropped by, looks for solutions and overcoming roadblocks. Of course I didn’t try to interrupt him when he was working on scheduling or in the middle of an obvious discipline situation. . ..

Oak Grove’s staff, parents and children are suffering because the school is considered a “good stepping stone” for movers and shakers in the system. The last principal left for Kittredge basically telling the Oak Grove community that they were a 2 1/2 year “step” in her career, as she moved on to Kittredge. It left the school in the lurch, with no permanent principal for months. The school has had 5 principals, including interims in less than 10 years. If Ms. Adamson is looking for a step up to a “boutique school” or a “nice job with the state” and does not want to become a part of the OG community for a long run, there will be terrible ramifications. Six excellent teachers have already left, and one has left for Kittredge following the previous principal. People are moving out of the area, and the exodus will just continue. It is Oak Grove’s hope that Ms. Adamson will stay with this wonderful community of educators and parents for the long haul!

Frankly, some in the Kittriedge community wish they could give the current principal back. While most parents are just passing through, those that have had multiple children there, were not happy that she was returning. Her demands of parents, especially as it relates to scheduling, have been wildly out of touch with reality.
Also, her letter to Oak Grove was totally inappropriate and she really insulted the parent community there. She acted as if she was the school’s savior — which is laughable.

I didn’t intend to start anything when I commented on Ms. Adamson’s move! My gut feeling is that she did not want the move – she had a long career with DHHS as a teacher, AP and principal, and I always felt like she considered it HER school. She was always out interacting with students, parents and teachers, and I never once found her unavailable. My impression was that she had a good relationship with teachers, because she had been one. I am sure she will develop a good relationship with the teachers at OG, and it might be a big relief to have someone who really cares in the position. I don’t think she is looking at it as a stepping stone.

I was not aware of how the prior principal had departed OG, but it does not surprise me at all. She has been through a great many schools in a relatively short time, and has friends in high places. She definitely has a career trajectory in mind, and does not seem to mind what she leaves in her wake.

Concernedmon30329, I hear ya loud and clear! KMS is pretty much a slick ride when it comes to student achievement; the principal ALWAYS looks good in that realm. For a long time, the school was also a harmonious place, but probably not so much anymore.